Frescoes inside the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, Photo by Rudolph Furtado

Painting with water-based pigments over freshly laid plaster, primarily on wall surfaces, is known as fresco painting. The Sigiriya Frescoes are located on the western side of Sigiriya Rock and are painted using a true fresco technique. In the buon fresco or true fresco technique, colors are created by crushing dry-powder pigments in water and then applying them to the wall, allowing the pigment to set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall. Fresco painting is perfect for murals because it has a colossal style, is long-lasting, and has a matte finish. Sigiriya Rock was first painted white to resemble a cloud by Kashyapa. A stark white rock, he felt, would have been a striking sight, but one that would need adornment. As a result, Kashyapa and his architects began to embellish the rock with a program of frescoes.

Kashyapa chose to adorn his rock with a non-religious theme after falling out with the priesthood, but the iconography of the frescoes still has spiritual and mythological overtones. Some believe the Sigiriya Maidens symbolize goddesses, while others believe they were the ladies of King Kashyapa. Because Kashyapa saw himself as a god-king living in his majestic Sky Palace on top of a cloud, the women of Kashyapa's court may have been represented in the frescoes as Apsaras—celestial nymphs raining flowers from above on the human creatures below. The women are exclusively painted from the waist up, with their torsos bursting from the clouds like goddesses. There are three arms or breasts on some of them, perhaps to indicate their divinity. They were created to elicit awe and to portray Kashyapa, the all-powerful god-king, in all his wealth and magnificence. For over a thousand and six hundred years, the ladies depicted in the Sigiriya frescoes have been the topic of speculation. For almost 1,600 years, they have stayed silent, smiling enigmatically. Their legacy has lasted over half a million days, a monument to their creators' brilliance and the king who commissioned them. They are certainly intended to be a celebration of his beauty and his royalty.

After King Kashyapa had to leave his original kingdom, he therefore established Sigirya as a kingdom fortress and a representation of his royalty and power. Kashyapa was known as a tyrant but was also sometimes a compassionate king. He was a creative soul perhaps entangled in dynastic intrigue, betrayal, and deception. While we cannot be certain about his character, we do know that his masterpiece at Sigiriya has stood for over 1,600 years and has granted him immortality. Today, only nineteen Sigiriya frescoes remain. Hundreds of these paintings have been lost over the years due to environmental factors and intentional destruction by humans.

Because Sigiriya's walls are said to have been plastered and painted white to represent a sense of purity and enlightenment, similar to how the city of gods was depicted in the ancient world, this location maintained its ties to Buddhism. The Buddha's image was carved into the rock, which provided people a sense of tranquility and reverence. Sigiriya is also thought to be the site of a once-famous Buddhist monastery. Despite the fact that it portrayed Buddha, it was ultimately abandoned, demolished, and vandalized. Despite this, the frescoes endured.

The Samadhi Statue

While King Kashyapa had fallen out with religious leaders, and the meaning of his frescoes is more ambiguous, the Samadhi Statue presents a very clear example of the influence of Buddhism on Sri Lankan art. When Buddhism entered Sri Lanka the people who followed this religion believed in Theravada Buddhism.[4] The Buddha is not regarded as a 'God' in the Abrahamic sense of the term in Theravada Buddhism. Rather, devotion to the Buddha is analogous to reverence for a mentor. Glorification and devotion for the Buddha is a fundamental principle for Buddhists in Sri Lanka. This statute allows Buddhists to venerate the Buddha, depicting Buddha in a meditation posture associated with enlightenment.